CHICAGO – He’s one of the key pieces to the core of the Bulls that was assembled by Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley during the summer of 2021, when the franchise was looking to reverse their fortunes on the floor.
But as that group enters their second year, there is some question to when Lonzo Ball might be ready to start the 2022-2023 season after dealing with a left knee injury that required surgery last year.
On Wednesday, the Bulls provided some clarity on that situation, and it’s not the best news for the team.
Ball will undergo an arthroscopic debridement of his left knee on Wednesday, September 28th in Los Angeles. This will keep him out for 4-to-6 weeks, which will knock the point guard out for all of training camp and the start of the regular season, which is scheduled to begin on October 19th.
This is the same knee that Ball had arthroscopic surgery on in January to repair a torn meniscus and continued pain after that would keep him out for the rest of the season. Pain continued during the summer and both Karnisovas and Eversley expressed concern that it could affect the guard’s status for training camp.
Indeed, that has come to pass as the point guard will miss the team’s preseason, with the first workouts beginning early next week.
It’s a blow for the Bulls, who are looking for the core of Ball, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic to see playing time together after injuries kept the group from being whole most of last season.
The point guard dealt with the most injury trouble as he appeared in just 35 games, averaging 13 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per contest.